Deep in native Australian forests is a wonderland that springs to life each winter.

It is a mysterious world of colourful toadstools right out of a fairy tale, of bizarre white “cages” that smell of death and decay and of ghostly mushrooms that glow eerily in the dark.

Australia’s native macrofungi — those visible fungus forms that can be seen with the naked eye and often appear during the coldest, darkest time of the year — play an essential role within any ecosystem.

They are nature’s recyclers, fertilisers and rehabilitators.

See here for Alison Pouliot’s full interview with Gavin McGrath on the ABC.